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Thursday, December 30, 2010

Spells by Aprilynne Pike

No spoilers.

Title: SpellsAuthor: Aprylynne PikeYear of Publication: 2010Genre: YA, fantasyPages: 359First Line: "Laurel stood in front of the cabin,scanning the treeline, her throat constricting in a rush of nerves."Summary: Although Laurel has come to accept her true identity as a faerie, she refuses to turn her back on her human life -- and especially her boyfriend, David -- to return to the faerie world.

But when she is summoned to Avalon, Laurel's feelings for the charismatic faerie sentry Tamani are undeniable. She is forced to make a choice -- a choice that could break her heart.

Source: Back of book

Review: I don't think Spells was any better or worse than Wings. It was just a (below-) mediocre book. Pike has a lot of opportunities to really improve this series, but she makes other decisions. I'm not a fan of the whole trolls thing, but they're obviously a big part of the story. The characters in the novel could also be more interesting. Most of them come across as very generic and without personality. In many ways, this series is like Twilight, where the book is certainly not any great literary achievement, but it accomplishes what it sets out to accomplish -- it is entertainment for young teenage girls and nothing more. I'm not sure this book moved along the central plot all that much as far as the series as a whole goes, but parts of it were still fun and if you plan on reading the entire series, you should read this as well.

Worst part: I'm not a fan of David. I dislike most of the characters, but something about David really bothers me.

Best part: Anything that took place in Avalon was cool, except for the whole tree thing.